Robert Kozol
@cavefish.bsky.social
He/him/his
Assistant Professor,
St. Johns University.
Fish evolutionary neuroscientist, musician and professional husband/dad
Assistant Professor,
St. Johns University.
Fish evolutionary neuroscientist, musician and professional husband/dad
Reposted by Robert Kozol
Our lab's first journal cover! Art by @taylorblack.bsky.social and project led by @brynnjohnson13.bsky.social
SO PROUD! @brynnjohnson13.bsky.social’s paper on temp dependent competition in secondary contact zones in darters is ofFISHally out in @journal-evo.bsky.social
academic.oup.com/evolut/artic...
As an extra hurrah related to this work, I had the opportunity to paint a corresponding journal cover!
academic.oup.com/evolut/artic...
As an extra hurrah related to this work, I had the opportunity to paint a corresponding journal cover!
September 9, 2026 at 5:36 PM
Our lab's first journal cover! Art by @taylorblack.bsky.social and project led by @brynnjohnson13.bsky.social
Reposted by Robert Kozol
A thread that not only celebrates scientific endeavour but dogged persistence in the face of societal barriers.
Well worth the read.
Well worth the read.
Ida Henrietta Hyde was born #OTD in 1857. She invented a micro-electrode capable of stimulating and monitoring electrical activity in cells.
Later in this thread there will be an amazing story about an octopus and Kaiser Wilhelm II. 🧪 👩🔬 🐙
Image: American Physiological Society
Later in this thread there will be an amazing story about an octopus and Kaiser Wilhelm II. 🧪 👩🔬 🐙
Image: American Physiological Society
September 8, 2026 at 5:36 PM
A thread that not only celebrates scientific endeavour but dogged persistence in the face of societal barriers.
Well worth the read.
Well worth the read.
Reposted by Robert Kozol
This black dragonfish (Idiacanthus sp.) was spotted at 527 meters (1,729 feet) in Monterey Bay. Black dragonfish are built for life in the darkness of the deep ocean. Their ultra-black skin helps them stay camouflaged from prey like fishes and crustaceans. 🐉🖤
September 4, 2026 at 6:07 PM
This black dragonfish (Idiacanthus sp.) was spotted at 527 meters (1,729 feet) in Monterey Bay. Black dragonfish are built for life in the darkness of the deep ocean. Their ultra-black skin helps them stay camouflaged from prey like fishes and crustaceans. 🐉🖤
Reposted by Robert Kozol
This was a complete treat! My first Beroe sp. Ctenophore (comb jelly). What an animal!
#marineplankton 🦑
#marineplankton 🦑
August 31, 2026 at 8:40 PM
This was a complete treat! My first Beroe sp. Ctenophore (comb jelly). What an animal!
#marineplankton 🦑
#marineplankton 🦑
Reposted by Robert Kozol
1/7 🐟🧬 New preprint! "The largest radiations of freshwater fishes initiated at the K-Pg boundary" Phylogeny of Otocephala: Clupeiformes, Alepeocephaliformes, & Ostariophysi 144 species, UCEs + whole genomes, Bayesian dating. 11,700+ species covered. Here is what we found 🧵👇
August 29, 2026 at 1:21 PM
1/7 🐟🧬 New preprint! "The largest radiations of freshwater fishes initiated at the K-Pg boundary" Phylogeny of Otocephala: Clupeiformes, Alepeocephaliformes, & Ostariophysi 144 species, UCEs + whole genomes, Bayesian dating. 11,700+ species covered. Here is what we found 🧵👇
Reposted by Robert Kozol
1/11 🐟 2nd new preprint today from
@chasedbrownstein.bsky.social
We investigated how losing the swim bladder, the organ that most fishes use to control their buoyancy, has shaped the diversity of ray-finned fishes over 90 million years of Earth history. The results surprised us. 🧵
@chasedbrownstein.bsky.social
We investigated how losing the swim bladder, the organ that most fishes use to control their buoyancy, has shaped the diversity of ray-finned fishes over 90 million years of Earth history. The results surprised us. 🧵
August 29, 2026 at 7:02 PM
1/11 🐟 2nd new preprint today from
@chasedbrownstein.bsky.social
We investigated how losing the swim bladder, the organ that most fishes use to control their buoyancy, has shaped the diversity of ray-finned fishes over 90 million years of Earth history. The results surprised us. 🧵
@chasedbrownstein.bsky.social
We investigated how losing the swim bladder, the organ that most fishes use to control their buoyancy, has shaped the diversity of ray-finned fishes over 90 million years of Earth history. The results surprised us. 🧵
Reposted by Robert Kozol
It's out! I will do a thread tomorrow, but for now: rejoice, my microscopy nerds and also learn about zebrafish notochord development! 🧪🐟
FOCUS-3D: Robust, generalizable volumetric cell segmentation for three-dimensional fluorescence microscopy https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.08.25.746907v1
August 28, 2026 at 7:55 PM
It's out! I will do a thread tomorrow, but for now: rejoice, my microscopy nerds and also learn about zebrafish notochord development! 🧪🐟
Reposted by Robert Kozol
Time-lapse video of vascular development in a transgenic #zebrafish embryo. Credit to @kuglerelisabeth.bsky.social. #ZebrafishZunday
August 16, 2026 at 6:36 AM
Time-lapse video of vascular development in a transgenic #zebrafish embryo. Credit to @kuglerelisabeth.bsky.social. #ZebrafishZunday
Reposted by Robert Kozol
Weekend plans: Settled ✅
Wake up babe! A new online resource for fish nerds just dropped. 🐟🧪
www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/discover-fis...
www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/discover-fis...
Fish Families of the World Gallery
This searchable gallery includes entries for fish families of the world, which may include photographs of preserved specimens, reconstructed CT and photogrammetry 3D models, xrays, characteristics for...
www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu
August 14, 2026 at 3:28 PM
Weekend plans: Settled ✅
Reposted by Robert Kozol
Michigan spotted gar ✅
Wonderful day out on the lakes with @garlab.bsky.social and @mikeboothlab.bsky.social
#EndlessFishMostBeautiful
Wonderful day out on the lakes with @garlab.bsky.social and @mikeboothlab.bsky.social
#EndlessFishMostBeautiful
August 14, 2026 at 12:01 PM
Michigan spotted gar ✅
Wonderful day out on the lakes with @garlab.bsky.social and @mikeboothlab.bsky.social
#EndlessFishMostBeautiful
Wonderful day out on the lakes with @garlab.bsky.social and @mikeboothlab.bsky.social
#EndlessFishMostBeautiful
Reposted by Robert Kozol
毒魚で有名なゴンズイ。海でこちらから近づいてもむこうは逃げていくので、刺されるのが難しいくらい。むしろ、釣れたり、網で採ったときに刺されやすいので注意した方が良い。
August 12, 2026 at 2:06 PM
毒魚で有名なゴンズイ。海でこちらから近づいてもむこうは逃げていくので、刺されるのが難しいくらい。むしろ、釣れたり、網で採ったときに刺されやすいので注意した方が良い。
Reposted by Robert Kozol
The animal is the same. The stimulus is identical. Yet the behaviour varies. Why? In our new study, @ashritocyte.bsky.social explores the sources of this behavioural variability under fully controlled conditions in larval zebrafish doing optomotor response. (1/7)
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Opposing influences of sensory and response history in larval zebrafish
Variability is a prominent feature of animal behavior across species. Despite highly controlled experimental conditions, the same individual often responds differently to repeated identical stimulatio...
www.biorxiv.org
August 12, 2026 at 2:59 PM
The animal is the same. The stimulus is identical. Yet the behaviour varies. Why? In our new study, @ashritocyte.bsky.social explores the sources of this behavioural variability under fully controlled conditions in larval zebrafish doing optomotor response. (1/7)
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Reposted by Robert Kozol
As always I bring this link out as it says everything I would want to say better than I could that you need to know & with music.
August 11, 2026 at 5:33 PM
As always I bring this link out as it says everything I would want to say better than I could that you need to know & with music.
Reposted by Robert Kozol
Reposted by Robert Kozol
Like most insects, the wings of tobacco hawk moths are covered in tiny hairs. But the tobacco hawk moth’s wing hairs do something researchers haven’t documented in any other insect: they help the animal smell.
Learn more: https://scim.ag/4fLx1Mk
Learn more: https://scim.ag/4fLx1Mk
August 6, 2026 at 1:00 AM
Like most insects, the wings of tobacco hawk moths are covered in tiny hairs. But the tobacco hawk moth’s wing hairs do something researchers haven’t documented in any other insect: they help the animal smell.
Learn more: https://scim.ag/4fLx1Mk
Learn more: https://scim.ag/4fLx1Mk
Reposted by Robert Kozol
Our Dispatch "Evolution: Ancient monoamines in a neuron-less animal" out in @currentbiology.bsky.social.
Monoamine signaling and behavioral responses in placozoans suggest this system predates bilaterians.
authors.elsevier.com/a/1nYJl3QW8S...
@annaferraioli.bsky.social
@msarscentre.bsky.social
Monoamine signaling and behavioral responses in placozoans suggest this system predates bilaterians.
authors.elsevier.com/a/1nYJl3QW8S...
@annaferraioli.bsky.social
@msarscentre.bsky.social
August 4, 2026 at 4:31 AM
Our Dispatch "Evolution: Ancient monoamines in a neuron-less animal" out in @currentbiology.bsky.social.
Monoamine signaling and behavioral responses in placozoans suggest this system predates bilaterians.
authors.elsevier.com/a/1nYJl3QW8S...
@annaferraioli.bsky.social
@msarscentre.bsky.social
Monoamine signaling and behavioral responses in placozoans suggest this system predates bilaterians.
authors.elsevier.com/a/1nYJl3QW8S...
@annaferraioli.bsky.social
@msarscentre.bsky.social
Reposted by Robert Kozol
This looks super practical! Give it a peek, if finterested 😎
I just updated LCS turbo adding a compatible Connector app at Zenodo. The Connector connects logical or marker/scRNAseq clusters across different experiments/data sources into Cytoscape compatible enrichment networks. Hope it is useful - I count downloads as ❤️. zenodo.org/records/2064...
August 5, 2026 at 11:19 AM
This looks super practical! Give it a peek, if finterested 😎
Reposted by Robert Kozol
Not sure if everyone appreciates the difference. Rooftop solar hardwires into your main panel via a dedicated breaker, so it requires a permit, an installer, an electrician, and a utility agreement. Balcony solar just plugs into a wall outlet, sharing an existing circuit with no permits or rewiring.
A new deal on balcony solar just dropped in the US
Plug-in panels can lower your bills. To boost the American market for the tech, nonprofit Bright Saver is selling kits with no markup, starting at around…
www.canarymedia.com
August 4, 2026 at 7:11 PM
Not sure if everyone appreciates the difference. Rooftop solar hardwires into your main panel via a dedicated breaker, so it requires a permit, an installer, an electrician, and a utility agreement. Balcony solar just plugs into a wall outlet, sharing an existing circuit with no permits or rewiring.
Reposted by Robert Kozol
We are really excited about this great opportunity for a Core leader in the Department of Biology at UVA.
jobs.virginia.edu/us/en/job/R0...
jobs.virginia.edu/us/en/job/R0...
Genomics and Multi-omics Senior Laboratory Research Specialist, Biology in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States of America | Research at University of Virginia
Apply for Genomics and Multi-omics Senior Laboratory Research Specialist, Biology job with University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States of America. Research at University of Virg...
jobs.virginia.edu
July 29, 2026 at 11:43 PM
We are really excited about this great opportunity for a Core leader in the Department of Biology at UVA.
jobs.virginia.edu/us/en/job/R0...
jobs.virginia.edu/us/en/job/R0...
Reposted by Robert Kozol
I did some fishing at the British Museum.
A short, fishy thread (5 posts)
This a vessel with the shape of a berbel, arguably Luciobarbus conocephalus, becauae the piece was produces in the Amu Darya (Oxus River)
Some 2500 years old
@sibic.bsky.social
A short, fishy thread (5 posts)
This a vessel with the shape of a berbel, arguably Luciobarbus conocephalus, becauae the piece was produces in the Amu Darya (Oxus River)
Some 2500 years old
@sibic.bsky.social
July 29, 2026 at 5:43 PM
I did some fishing at the British Museum.
A short, fishy thread (5 posts)
This a vessel with the shape of a berbel, arguably Luciobarbus conocephalus, becauae the piece was produces in the Amu Darya (Oxus River)
Some 2500 years old
@sibic.bsky.social
A short, fishy thread (5 posts)
This a vessel with the shape of a berbel, arguably Luciobarbus conocephalus, becauae the piece was produces in the Amu Darya (Oxus River)
Some 2500 years old
@sibic.bsky.social
Reposted by Robert Kozol
Better late than never! Last month, we posted our preprint on single-cell RNA sequencing of the #zebrafish sox17 lineage — a collaboration among several labs including us, @stefanmaterna.bsky.social and @thelovelylab.bsky.social. A few key takeaways below: 1/3
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Transcriptional divergence of the zebrafish sox17 lineage begins during gastrulation
The endoderm is specified at the onset of gastrulation and subsequently undergoes extensive migration before forming an epithelial sheet that gives rise to multiple organs, including the gut and respi...
www.biorxiv.org
July 29, 2026 at 5:28 PM
Better late than never! Last month, we posted our preprint on single-cell RNA sequencing of the #zebrafish sox17 lineage — a collaboration among several labs including us, @stefanmaterna.bsky.social and @thelovelylab.bsky.social. A few key takeaways below: 1/3
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Reposted by Robert Kozol
Our review paper on nerve nets has just been published!!
@jekely.biologists.social.ap.brid.gy
@jekely.biologists.social.ap.brid.gy
Looking for weekend reading? New review by @kei-jokura.bsky.social and @jekely.biologists.social.ap.brid.gy revisits nerve nets, their functional organization, and evolutionary implications
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
July 25, 2026 at 4:55 AM
Our review paper on nerve nets has just been published!!
@jekely.biologists.social.ap.brid.gy
@jekely.biologists.social.ap.brid.gy
Reposted by Robert Kozol
How to use AI for your grapgical abstracts:
- do not
- dont even think about it
- congrats now everyone thinks your paper is made up data and you plagiarised the results
- lost all scientific credibility
- do not
- dont even think about it
- congrats now everyone thinks your paper is made up data and you plagiarised the results
- lost all scientific credibility
July 22, 2026 at 5:06 PM
How to use AI for your grapgical abstracts:
- do not
- dont even think about it
- congrats now everyone thinks your paper is made up data and you plagiarised the results
- lost all scientific credibility
- do not
- dont even think about it
- congrats now everyone thinks your paper is made up data and you plagiarised the results
- lost all scientific credibility
Reposted by Robert Kozol
from our cover: hunting strategy correlates with eye arrangement in spiders
www.cell.com/current-biol...
www.cell.com/current-biol...
Hunting ecology predicts eye arrangements in the modular visual system of spiders
Pande et al. show that visually hunting spiders have convergently evolved forward-facing
eyes. The positions and orientations of the eyes show the greatest morphological disparity
and fastest evolutio...
www.cell.com
July 20, 2026 at 4:15 PM
from our cover: hunting strategy correlates with eye arrangement in spiders
www.cell.com/current-biol...
www.cell.com/current-biol...
Reposted by Robert Kozol
Excited to share my postdoc paper from the @lyons-lab.bsky.social
Our question: what controls axon diameter? It varies >100-fold between neurons, shapes signal speed & myelination, and changes in disease. Yet very little is known about what regulates it. 🧵
journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...
Our question: what controls axon diameter? It varies >100-fold between neurons, shapes signal speed & myelination, and changes in disease. Yet very little is known about what regulates it. 🧵
journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...
A high-resolution phenotypic screen identifies regulators of CNS axon diameter in zebrafish
Axon diameter is important for action potential conduction speed, but what molecular pathways influence this neuronal property? This study reports a high-resolution imaging-based chemical screening pi...
journals.plos.org
July 19, 2026 at 11:05 AM
Excited to share my postdoc paper from the @lyons-lab.bsky.social
Our question: what controls axon diameter? It varies >100-fold between neurons, shapes signal speed & myelination, and changes in disease. Yet very little is known about what regulates it. 🧵
journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...
Our question: what controls axon diameter? It varies >100-fold between neurons, shapes signal speed & myelination, and changes in disease. Yet very little is known about what regulates it. 🧵
journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...